Mitt Romney: President Obama driving U.S. ‘forward over a cliff’

“In my experience, thinking about people who I want to have work for me, whether it’s my doctor or the person that’s going to be painting the house, I want to make sure they do a good job the first time. And if they didn’t, I want someone who can do a better job.”

Romney sought to drive a wedge between Obama’s policies and their results, pointing specifically to the health-care law, the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform bill, energy policy and the Keystone XL pipeline.

Text Size

-

+

reset

“What he says and what he does are not always the exact same thing,” Romney charged.

Meanwhile, Romney outlined his own priorities for his first term in office, including eliminating the health-care law, creating more jobs, reducing the federal deficit and building the Keystone pipeline even “if I have to build it myself to get it here.”

He did not introduce any new economic proposals, instead focusing on the familiar themes of his stump speech, and slamming the president repeatedly as out of touch with America’s economic reality and unable to provide the economic turnaround he promised.

Ahead of his Cincinnati speech, Romney met with a half-dozen small business owners, hammering home the theme of his “Every Town Counts” bus tour, set to launch in New Hampshire on Friday.

Romney will visit six battleground states — including Ohio — over the course of five days with a focus on small towns and the average Americans with whom Romney contends Obama is out of touch.

The optics of the dueling speeches said more than the speeches themselves, and display the importance of Ohio in the calculus of both campaigns.

No Republican candidate has ever ascended to the White House without winning the state, and Ohio’s 18 electoral votes are on the path to victory for both the Romney and Obama campaigns. Polls show Obama and Romney locked in a slugfest for the state’s voters.

“There’s no state more important than Ohio,” Russ Schriefer, a senior Romney campaign strategist, told reporters on a conference call Wednesday..

Romney, speaking in Washington Wednesday, also sought to prebut Obama’s speech, telling 100 of the nation’s top CEOs that Obama might use soaring rhetoric in his Cleveland speech Thursday, but that it’s his record that matters.

“My own view is that he will speak eloquently but that words are cheap, and that the record of an individual is the basis upon which you determine whether they should hold onto their job,” Romney said there.

Despite the heavy focus on the economy as Romney and Obama delivered split-screen speeches, the unemployment rate in Ohio is nearly a full percentage point below the national average — a fact that the Romney campaign attributes not to Obama, but to the success of John Kasich, Ohio’s Republican governor.

“When you have Republican governors who encourage business, things are better…The problem is that they still have the weight of the White House and the Obama administration on top of them,” Schriefer said. “This weight of an uncertain future, of Obamacare, of what regulation are they going to think up next.”

Readers' Comments (176)

Over 23 million Americans can't find work because of Obama's incompetence. Obama was hired to fix things but he only made it worse, all while stealing billions from our children to give to his government Union thug friends.

I watched Romney's speech in Ohio this morning and if he were Pinocchio he would have tripped over his nose on the way off the stage, lol. Can't wait for fact checkers to get ahold of that speech. Pretty tepid response from the crowd there as well. BTW, didn't he tell Laura Ingraham he thought the economy was improving?????? Yet another flip flop from the master.

I watched Romney's speech in Ohio this morning and if he were Pinocchio he would have tripped over his nose on the way off the stage, lol. Can't wait for fact checkers to get ahold of that speech. Pretty tepid response from the crowd there as well. BTW, didn't he tell Laura Ingraham he thought the economy was improving?????? Yet another flip flop from the master.

So you enjoy having over 23 million Americans out of work and suffering because Obama is too incompetent to lead. Typical liberal.

Mitt Romney’s Magic Mormon Underwear protects him from the evils of the world including socialism, illegal immigrants, homosexuals and taxes on his inherited wealth. Can these sacred garments also make it rain down enough cash for a victory in this race since well over 90% of public offices are bought in our country by Big Money? Drop by to discuss these mysterious tighty whities and the role of money in politics at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot...

So you enjoy having over 23 million Americans out of work and suffering because Obama is too incompetent to lead. Typical liberal.

Lol, what do you think the unemployment rate would be in Ohio if President Obama hadn't taken the bold move of bailing out the auto industry, hmmmm? You ought to be asking yourself why Romney is such a proficient liar and then you ought to be asking yourself why you would support someone who knowingly lies and refuses to correct himself. And then after that you ought to be asking yourself how someone so spineless could possibly lead the greatest nation on earth. Did you even watch the speech or are you just spouting off on things you know nothing about. Typical conservative (you know, sauce for the goose and all that, lol.)

This is the Republican reality. This is the conservative logic. Obama is unfit because he didn't fix the problems caused by the Republicans fast enough. So, naturally, we should go running back to the processes and policies that caused the problems that Obama hasn't fixed fast enough, again!

Obama = success.

For Conservatives, where black is white and failure = success, I can fully understand why they see Obama as a failure. They've had 30 years of "success" That why we're in this mess. Unfunded wars. Unfunded Medicare. Overspending and graft from their war mongering buddies . Cronyism. Katrina, Unwinnable wars. All that is "success" for the GOP.

As much as I hate to respond to paid trolls, you obviously didn't watch either speech. Obama had a much more receptive audience. Romney should have been asking "is this thing on?", lol. Golf clap would be an overstatement.

This guy is a fraud. He did not outline any plan. Same ole crap. Bash Obama with no specifics? He has none. Same GOP ideas that has never worked. The GOP's fix all is tax cuts and no tax increases back to the level that Clinton had tax rates. The GOP is phoney and not one of u on the right knows what Willard is going to do. It calls for different measures for different times and the GOP is stuck in this alternate universe where tax cuts cure. Please tell me where r the jobs from the Bush's tax cuts? Didnt they run on jobs to take the house. LIke i said a record number of filibusters and a record number of abortion bills. A record number fake voter fraud bills when there is NO evidence of voter fraud. They r not the party of the people. Only the party of the tin foil hat wearing bunch who r low information voters. Pleae righies. explain to me Willards economic plans..

I gave Romney a fair listen today and I gotta tell you, it was a grave mistake for him to play the dueling speeches game. First, Romney's optics were horrible!! He looked like he was in some dude's barn with about 60 of his neighbors chewing and spitting snuff.

Also, he came off the cuff with a rambling speech and these are the highlights:

1. Drill, drill, drill

2. Get rid of Obamacare but keep Romneycare in Massachusetts.

3. Limit the of government.

4. Crack down on um China...um, somehow.

5. Obama is bad, America is great.

6. A woman went out of business because Obama said something about Vegas.

7. And um, Rubio said something positive about something.

8. A dude opened a new factory and he's rich now.

9. And he went to San Diego on Memorial Day and met some great Americans.

10. But couldn't hold the torch as high.

11. He knows how to lead cause he's um, been in the private sector

And, then, in walks Obama to thousands of screaming fans and every single world Romney said was dashed against the stone.

Romney needs to continue whacking the amateur president over the economy, you can already see how it's affecting team Obama. They have been on the defensive for weeks now while team Romney continues to pound them and make them look foolish.

Please save us from this Boring speaker! Obama will clean Romney's clock in the debates.

On day one Mitt will give himself and his millionaire donors a tit for tat tax break worth millions to them that will be paid by cuts to the middle class. Nice!!!

On day one, if Mitt had been elected the last time he tried, he would have insisted on bankruptcy and the total destruction of the American auto industry and the end of millions of middle class jobs.

Mitt speaks to nothing but tax cuts for the wealthy, tax cuts for the wealthy. And he does so in a way that puts Americans to sleep. His basic strategy is that we will all be so bored that we won't listen to his message.